Ok...so it might not look like much at first glance but I have it on very good authority that this 'home built' coretto coffee roaster is capable of producing very good coffee indeedFirst impressions out of the box are that it is well built using first rate and sturdy materials - and it came well packed too - which is just as well as I managed to catch a glance inside the back of the courier truck and everything was all akimbo!
Still... the driver went out of his way to deliver to me at home as opposed to my cafe (which is now closed for a couple of weeks over the break) - which I amvery grateful for...
So... out of the box..
Bearing in mind that this unit is a 'pre release' prototype - a work in progress if you will - I'm going to rate it as if it were the real thing - ready to be released to the Australian public, and presumably the world at large!
Now this may seem a tad unfair as I am one of only twenty select few to be putting this machine through its paces prior to commercial release - so I'm going to be a bit harsher than is perhaps necessary considering the machine is in the 'pre-production' and final stages of development
The product itself is the end result of a lot of hard work on the part of Paul aka "Koffee Kosmo" from the Crema and CoffeeSnobs websites, in collaboration with Bazzari Bezzera as the Australian agent and distributors...
First off the machine itself as mentioned was well packed albeit with the 'o ring' for the heating element packed upside down for safe storage - but annoyingly no mention of this in the instructions anywhere?
Anyway... it didn't take rocket science to figure out how to pop same off and to position it the right way! Although while we're at it an appropriately sized Allen key in the packaging to do the job wouldn't have gone astray, and one of the screws for fastening same had fallen off and was located in the bottom of the box
The actual instructions themselves that accompanied the machine are very limited - and I take it that the end user is assumed to already has a firm handle on the home-roasting process - which, thankfully, I do
So a bit of playing around and a few minutes later the machine is assembled and ready to go - and its a very straight forward assembly!
Except of course to a technophobe like me - who couldn't figure out how to keep the machine running without keeping my finger down on the manual on / off switch on the back of the heating element!
Still, one quick post on the CS website and I'm up and running in minutes - how's that for service!
Turns out you need to lock the handle in place to keep the element and the timer running - sort of a fail-safe safety mechanism!
Can't say I've done much roasting at home recently what with having two kids under five years of age and having recently opened a new cafe - but I do have at least 20kg of green beans on hand just waiting for me to say the word!
And considering that I'm going camping with around 100 mates over the new year's period - and that I traditionally provide both the coffee machine and the home roast coffee that goes with that - I suppose I had better get roasting!
Just waiting for the temperature to drop from the dreaded 38C that it was today (its still 31C at midnight as I write!) - which is NOT ideal conditions for roasting!
Still... time is short and life is sweet and there is no time like the present for giving it a whirl - so maybe I'll whack on the aircon and get cracking!
Watch this space...
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